Miss USA Falls On Stage (Again)

U.S. Hopeful Trips, Falls At Miss Universe Pageant For 2nd Year In Row; Miss Venezuela Wins

(AP)  Miss Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe 2008 on Monday in a contest marked by the spectacle of Miss USA falling down during the evening gown competition for the second year in a row.

The new Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza, was once kidnapped in her homeland and says the experience taught her to remain poised under pressure.

Tension got under the skin of Miss USA, Crystle Stewart of Texas, who tripped on the train of her bejeweled evening gown as she made her entrance.

During the 2007 Miss Universe contest in Mexico City, Miss USA Rachel Smith also tumbled during the evening gown competition and became an unintended star on YouTube, where the video was shown over and over again.

At a news conference after this year's event, a beaming Mendoza said she wasn't yet sure where her upcoming year of whirlwind appearances would take her. But after a quick stop in New York, she wants to see her family again, enjoy some of her mom's home cooking and give everyone hugs.

"When I go back to Venezuela I will jump on my family and they will jump on me," said Mendoza.

In the meantime, Mendoza said, she is simply looking forward to taking off her high-heeled shoes and massaging her feet.

She declined to discuss her kidnapping, which occurred a year and a half ago, but took advantage of the occasion to call for global peace.

"I want to raise my voice and tell the world that violence is not the answer," she said.

Mendoza, 22, is a 5-foot, 10-inch, green-eyed beauty who enjoys learning languages and photography. She appeared at the news conference in the flowing yellow dress and dangling turquoise earrings that she wore during the evening gown competition in which Stewart took her spill.

Stewart, 26, is a motivational speaker and former track and field star who is working on a book called "Waiting to Win." The Houston native plans to open a character-development school for young children and has worked with students with autism in the Texas schools.

During a weekend interview with the Associated Press, Stewart said she felt very confident going into the show and couldn't imagine experiencing the same calamity as her predecessor.

"All I can offer to the world and to America is to do my best," Stewart said. "Nerves don't play a part in this."

The final five contestants included four from Latin America: Miss Mexico, Miss Dominican Republic, Miss Colombia and Miss Venezuela (seen at left). Rounding out the final five was Miss Russia.

Miss Colombia finished second behind Mendoza.

Miss Thailand won the prize for best national costume and Miss El Salvador was chosen by her peers as Miss Congeniality.

The NBC show was hosted by talk show star Jerry Springer and Spice Girl Melanie Brown and broadcast live to hundreds of millions of viewers in 170 countries.

The tuxedoed Springer made a grand entrance on a motorbike - the vehicle of choice in Vietnam, where the streets are teeming with millions of the speeding two-wheelers.

Eighty contestants gathered in the seaside city of Nha Trang, Vietnam, vying to succeed previous Miss Universe Riyo Mori of Japan.

Sporting yellow, green and orange bikinis, the 15 semifinalists strutted across the stage during the swimsuit competition to the sounds of Lady Gaga, who belted out the pulsating "Just Dance" in a platinum blond wig. Miss Vietnam, Lam Thuy Nguyen, was greeted with a roar from the Vietnamese audience.

The final 10 then competed in the evening gown event.

They performed in front of a panel of judges that included international fashion experts and Donald Trump Jr., whose father, the real estate magnate and TV star, co-owns the pageant with NBC.

This year's contestants spanned a wide range of experiences and aspirations.

Miss Albania was a professional basketball player. Miss Argentina says she has paranormal experiences. Miss Antigua & Barbuda is fascinated by snakes. Miss Angola was in a plane crash while trying to escape a conflict during her country's civil war.

[keithle1]

Venezuela is NUTS about beauty pageants. They live for these things.

Problem with being a woman is you get old. You hit 40-45. Gravity takes over. You may have been a hottie head-turner when you were 25 but now things have started to go downhill. Fast. Men don''t pay attention to you or flirt with you like they used to. You drop your briefcase/papers on the street & men ignore you.
Back in the day they couldn''t help you fast enough.
Say hello to wrinkle removers, too much makeup, subdued lighting & plastic surgery.

Keep young & beautiful if you want to be loved.

[o2bewealthy]

So, someone please tell me - why do we have these pageants?

[keithle1]

Men can see more at the beach any day of the week.

[neobrian-2009]

Four of Top Five were " Latinas "
I think my friends might quit wondering why I prefer South America as my favorite vacation spot ! These ladies are Truly God`s gift to men.

[keithle1]

Why are you smiling, airhead? Ever walk in heels? Miss USA looks pretty average. We ain''t putting out hot babes anymore? Foreign women got it going on.

Me luv u long time.

[whiskyrocker]

You could fry an egg on her.

[whiskyrocker]

You could cook an egg on her.

[estabwary]

If I looked like her I wouldn''t care if I fell.

[yongamerica]

Ms. USA is from Texas. She has taken lessons from GW Bush to heart and slips and falls flat on the face in front of the world.

[neonink]

Maybe the USA pageants need to start focusing on the ABILITY TO WALK for crying out loud. The heck with talent competition, let''s get the basics down...

Good grief....


lol...

[kuei12]

it has everything to do with world PIECE though.

[shippg-2009]

I cannot believe they still have swimsuit contests. If the winner is going to be a representative for world peace, autism, education, or whatever, what difference does her body make? How come they do not make Condoleeza Rice wear a bathing suit once a week? See how ridiculous that would be?

[samthetvcat]

omg - somebody please fire the wardrobe department! Those dresses combined with the slippery shoes are cleary dangerous and are causing us to lose! Boo!

That lady who won looked like she had had a lot of plastic surgery done I thought, but she gave a cute answer that the judges always seem to reward - charming, flip, not too controversial . . .

[lawresn1]

nice lookin chicks who cares if they fall they still look hooooooooooootttttttt

[stn_sage]

Well, after this year one thing should be clear to the USA pageant officials!

They need to test all USA contestants prior to selecting one, to make sure that she can walk in an evening gown!

[rgold02]

I am glad they chose her! I really liked everything about her! You go girl.I think that beautiful yellow evening gown was one of her winning factors. What a lovely color and gown.

[sociald63]

yo dayana, marry meeeeeeeeeeeeeee :)

[sociald63]

by the way, did the vietnemese stopped serving dog meat during the contest (like china was doing for the olmpics)?

[sociald63]

2 words ... HOT babes :)

[lylerwood]

I thought it was interesting that they actually admitted that the contest was fixed right up front. Prior to announcing the "top twenty," they said the semi-finalists were picked by the judges, "..and members of the Trump organization." Since the only member of the Trump organization there, or at least visible, was DT, Jr., I can only assume that he made the final selection based on criteria set by dad. This is the same kind of word play that American Idle uses when they announce that, "..you can vote for AT LEAST two hours." Since there is no set time limit for voting, they can close the polls whenever the person they want to win is ahead. Or, whenever the person they want to lose is behind. It''s all a scam.
So there.